{"id":22591,"date":"2026-04-30T11:35:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/22591\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:35:32","slug":"ted-cruz-rips-fcc-over-abc-broadcast-license-review-following-kimmel-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/22591\/","title":{"rendered":"Ted Cruz Rips FCC Over ABC Broadcast License Review Following Kimmel Joke"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSen. Ted Cruz<\/a> of Texas is a MAGA loyalist, but he thinks the Republican-controlled FCC<\/a> stepped over the line in accelerating the renewal process for broadcast licenses of Disney\u2019s eight ABC-owned local TV stations<\/a> \u2014 seemingly in response to a joke Jimmy Kimmel told about Melania Trump on late-night television.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is not government\u2019s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,\u201d Cruz told political outlet Punchbowl News<\/a> about the agency\u2019s demand that ABC<\/a> filed to renew licenses within 30 days. Variety has reached out to the senator\u2019s office for additional comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe FCC\u2019s Media Bureau, in its April 28 order<\/a>, said it was calling in ABC\u2019s licenses for eight owned-and-operated stations for early review pursuant to an investigation into Disney and ABC over potential violations of the FCC\u2019s \u201cprohibition on unlawful discrimination\u201d \u2014 i.e., the agency is probing the media conglomerate\u2019s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. <\/p>\n

\n\tAsked for comment about Cruz\u2019s criticism, an FCC spokesperson said, \u201cAs the agency decision makes clear, the early renewal order is based on a long-running FCC investigation into Disney\u2019s DEI conduct, not any speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, the timing of the order clearly left the impression that the FCC was acting in response to conservatives\u2019 outrage over Kimmel\u2019s comedy bit: It came a day after President Trump and Melania Trump called for Kimmel\u2019s firing over his joke that Melania looked like an \u201cexpectant widow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCruz has criticized FCC chairman Brendan Carr\u2019s strongarm tactics before.<\/p>\n

\n\tCarr, whom Trump appointed as the FCC\u2019s chairman, in September 2025 called for ABC and local broadcasters to\u00a0cancel Kimmel over the host\u2019s comments about Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 implying they would otherwise be subject to \u201cnews distortion\u201d investigations. In response to that, Cruz likened the\u00a0FCC chair to a \u201cmafioso\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and warned that it is \u201cunbelievably dangerous\u201d to try to shut down speech the government doesn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a\u00a0Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee\u2019s FCC oversight hearing\u00a0in December 2025, Cruz said<\/a> he agreed with Carr \u201cthat Jimmy Kimmel is angry, overtly partisan and profoundly unfunny.\u201d But, the senator said, \u201cwhat the government cannot do is force private entities to take actions that the government cannot take directly. Government officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday about the FCC\u2019s order, a Disney spokesperson said in part, \u201cWe are confident [ABC and its stations\u2019] record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe licenses for ABC\u2019s eight stations were not due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest, with some not due until 2031.<\/p>\n

On the April 27 episode of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d\u00a0the late-night host defended his remark about Melania<\/a>\u00a0as \u201ca very light roast joke about the fact that he\u2019s almost 80 and she\u2019s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel said, \u201cI agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,\u201d adding in a remark aimed at the First Lady, \u201cAnd I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is a MAGA loyalist, but he thinks the Republican-controlled FCC stepped over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[707,4097,8,9,377,7],"class_list":["post-22591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-abc","tag-fcc","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-ted-cruz","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116493452732457752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}